By Dan Weber
NKyTribune sports reporter
“It should have been nothing to nothing,” Chris Maxwell was thinking for his Dixie Heights Colonels going into the last inning.
But it wasn’t. It was 2-1, with Ryle’s two runs coming in the first inning, Dixie’s in the third.
Ryle’s runs were the result of a two-out throw that pulled the first baseman off the base and gave Olli Morris a chance to bat with two on, two out. His double down the right field line plated both.
And that was it. Two outs into Saturday morning’s Ninth Region championship game at Thomas More Stadium and it was over, although no one had any idea that would be it.
“I was telling myself 2-1’s not going to do it,” said Ryle Coach Joseph Aylor. Not going to be enough to send the Raiders, who haven’t been downstate in baseball since 2013, to Lexington, not against a dangerous Dixie Heights team.
The Raiders were fortunate to get that second run as Aylor, the third base coach, stopped Josh Caudill, the beneficiary on that misplay to even be on base, as he rounded third until he saw the throw from the outfield going to second.
“That was on me,” Aylor said of Caudill’s stop-start maneuver at third base. And if Aylor knew that would be the last run Ryle would score – and the winning run?
“My nerves couldn’t stand it,” he said, glad that he didn’t realize how close this one was going to be as he was still shaking off the Gatorade bath his team had given him for the 31st – and by far most important win of the season for the Raiders.
And as much as Region MVP Sam Eppley’s second terrific winning outing this week shut down the Colonels on three hits – one extra base hit on a Mason Granger triple that was misjudged in center field and led to Dixie’s lone run, it was a final game-ending play that sent the Raiders into a joyous infield dogpile.
With two outs and no one on in the seventh inning, Dixie’s Carson Pullum lofted a Texas Leaguer into short left center where despite the all-out sprinting efforts of the three nearest Ryle defenders, no one could get to it. Not while it was in the air, anyway.
Pullum saw his chance to get into scoring position as he rounded first and headed toward second. Also running to make a play was Ryle second baseman Anthony Coppola, as he tracked the bouncing ball in short left.
Those two weren’t the only ones running to make a play. First baseman Caleb Mann was also headed that way, knowing that’s where the play was to be made. Coppola wheeled and threw the ball to the base as Mann arrived, just a split-second ahead of Pullum and slapped the tag on him.
One of those bang, bang plays where Ryle got the benefit of the bang with Mann’s quick tag. “Everybody knows where to be on that play,” Mann said. And yes, he has made that tag play at second before, he said.
“We try to be aggressive,” Maxwell said, “he (Pullum) was trying to make something happen.”
Neither pitcher would let much happen. Eppley got his second start and win of the week thanks to the rescheduled championship game – from Thursday to Saturday – because of Dixie Heights’ Thursday graduation. Eppley nodded his appreciation since after Monday’s complete-game win in the first round against St. Henry, his pitch count limit would have kept him out of a Thursday championship.
“I really wanted to be out there,” said Eppley (7-2), whose gameplan was “just to throw really hard.”
“He was throwing harder than we’d seen him,” Maxwell said of Eppley’s 10-strikeout performance that included striking out the side in the first and the first five batters he faced, “and he had his slider working for him.”
Also throwing hard was Dixie Heights’ double comeback guy, Brach Rice, the 6-foot-3, 240-pound senior linebacker who will attend Miami of Ohio on a football scholarship. He’d first decided to skip baseball this spring, then came back to play for Maxwell one more time.
But after a serious cut above his right eye required some 35 stitches to repair, he was limited to just four starts as he worked in a closer’s role at season’s end. But assuring all that “I’ll be ready,” when it came time for the region.
Was he ever. “Phenomenal,” was Maxwell’s evaluation. But those two runs were one too many. “I thought we’d get one more,” said Morris of this two-RBI ball, but that was it. “But it was enough,” he said.
It was. Just not by much. Ryle sophomore leadoff hitter AJ Curry, as he so often is, got things going with a hit-by-pitch at-bat in the first and scored on Morris’ RBI. He also had one of Ryle’s four hits. But for the state’s leading hitter, at .581, his one-for-two, .500 day – will actually drop his batting average.
The lesson is clear, he says: Don’t get all caught up in your stats. “Honestly I think it’s funny, I have what I think is a good game and my stats are going down.” But his team is not.
It’s going to the state championships in Lexington next Friday against East Carter’s 22-6 Raiders out of Grayson, the upset winner in the 16th Region, at 10 a.m. at Legends Field. Another early morning game for the Raiders, who will be joined in the morning by Simon Kenton’s 10th Region champs, who also play at 10 a.m. but on Thursday against Fourth Region champ Russell County.
As for Maxwell, after 41 seasons, it’s another year of not making it for the Colonels, who finish up 26-14. His message to himself after coming this close again? “Dang, let’s get it done next year. I’m very proud of these guys.”
NINTH REGION ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM: Chase Flaherty, Beechwood; Andrew Flanagan, St. Henry; Kolton Smith, Newport Central Catholic; Drew Barth, Highlands; Aaron Wichmann, Conner; Rex Richter, Conner; Jackson Reardon, Covington Catholic; Bradley Zekl, Covington Catholic; Luke Abeling, Dixie Heights; Brach Rice, Dixie Heights; Braden Shinkle, Dixie Heights; Dylan McIntyre, Ryle; AJ Curry, Ryle; Josh Caudill, Ryle; and MVP Sam Eppley, Ryle.
SCORING SUMMARY
DIXIE HEIGHTS 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 – 1 3 2
RYLE 2 0 0 0 0 0 X – 2 4 0
WP: Eppley (8-2) LP: Rice 1-2
LEADING HITTERS: Ryle: Curry 1-2, run; Morris double, 2 RBI; Caudill 2-3; Dixie Heights Granger triple, run; Schroer RBI.
Contact Dan Weber at dweber3440@aol.com. Follow him on X (formerly Twitter) @dweber3440.